Ear pad for earpieces



Dec. 16, 1952 s. K. HERMAN 2,622,159

EAR PAD FOR EARPIECES Filed March l1, 1950 In t/enfor' Sydne/ K. Heidrun/1 Patented Dec. 16, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EAR PAD FOR EARPIECES- Sydney K. Herman, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application March 11, 1950Serial N0. 149,120

1 Claim. l

This invention relates to an ear pad for the earpiece of a telephone or the like, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a simplified and improved ear pad more convenient to handle, ship and attach for use and'more comfortable in use than previous pads.

A further important object is to provide a pad of the type described in which the means of attaching the pad to the earpiece forms the means of mounting the pad during shipping or display.

Still another object is to provide a useful auxiliary product utilizing the entire residue of Inaterial cut in forming the pad to eliminate waste, providing for economical manufacture. j

The principal feature of the invention consists in forming the pad as a resilentcushion of foam rubber in which the inter-communicating cells of the rubber provide for ventilation of the ear and modulation of sounds transmitted to the ear.

Another feature of the invention consists in applying to one side of the pad a pressure-sensitive tacky adhesive capable of rebonding with the earpiece of a telephone or the like after functioning to mount the pad in a display or shipping package.

A still further important feature consists in forming the pad from a blank of foam rubber by cutting from the blank a disc employable as a powder puff.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank from which the ear pad may be cut.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the pad cut from the blank of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan View of the pad formed in cutting the pad of Figure 2 from the disc of Figure l.

Figure 4 is a perspective View of the pad mounted in a display package with the adhesive face presented and forming the means of anchoring the pad in the package.

Figure 5 is a side elevational view showing the pad being attached to the earpiece of a telephone receiver.

Figure 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the pad showing the inter-communicating cell structure.

Referring to the drawings, an ear pad according to the invention is formed by cutting from a vblank I of foam rubber a disc 3 to provide the foam rubber annular pad 2.

As shown particularly in Figure 6 the material of the pad comprises the inter-connecting cells 4, at least some of which open to the atmosphere at 2 the periphery. The cell network thus provides communication between the periphery 5 and the faces 6.

The disc 3 cut from blank I also has the communicating cell structure of Figure 6. The -cell structure permits free air circulation in all directions as well as providing a soft cushion effect, and I have found the disc 3 in exhibiting these properties to be very satisfactory as a powder puff, with large powder storage, a high degree of softness for application and excellent powdertransfer powder transfer properties. Thus from the blank I there is no waste in the manufacture of the pad 2 for economy in manufacture.

Applied to one of the annular faces E 0f the pad is a layer of adhesive 1. Preferably this adhesive is of a synthetic rubber base in a suitable solvent and exhibiting the characteristics of sufficient tack after thorough drying to permit rebonding under light pressure.

A specific example of the adhesive is a synthetic rubber dissolved in a petroleum naphtha solvent distillation range F. to 210 F.

The adhesive 1 forms a convenient means for mounting the pad in a shipping or display package 8 with the ap 9 of the package being shown partially peeled away from the adhesive face of the pad to indicate the breaking of the bond therebetween without adhesive transfer to the flap surface.

The bond obtainable between the adhesive 1 and nap 9 is suicient to firmly anchor the pad 2 in proper position for display and to facilitate handling, but as the characteristics of the adhesive are such as to prevent transfer under separating the pad from the package, the pad on being applied to the earpiece IIJ of the telephone receiver l I will again securely bond to the surface of the earpiece under light pressure.

The normally tacky pressure sensitive adhesive thus forms an extremely simple and convenient means of attaching the pad to an earpiece and of transferring it from one earpiece to another without loss of adhering characteristics.

In use the interior I2 of the pad forms a sound box between the earpiece I0 and an ea1` (not shown) placed against the outer face of the pad.

The cellular structure of the pad 2 provides a softness for the comfort of the ear and the intercommunicating structure of the cells provides for air circulation between the exterior or periphery 5 and the interior l2 and also the face 6 in contact with the ear.

Thus the discomfort of present pads, which prevent air circulation to the ear and are excessively warm against the ear, has been overcome. Further, the intercommunicating structure of the cells provides for modulation of sound conveyed from the earpiece to the ear. This modulation is particularly effective where sounds emanating from the earpiece are particularly loud, the pad serving to absorb and mute the sounds in transmission and.' to eliminate standing wave formations likely to occur where cells are not communicating to distort and mask the sounds in transmission.

In this regard it will be seen from the gures that the pad would only be of suicient width to fully support the outer periphery or helix of the ear and would not bar sound transmission emanating directly towards the ear from the sound.' diaphragm of the earpiece, the moving part of this sound diaphragm occupying only the central portion of the earpiece as is well understood.

It Will be appreciated that the instant pad in its extremely simple form is more convenient to attach than previous pad constructions and functions more eiciently to the comfort of the user in forming` a cushion, a means of breathingfor the ear and a sound modulating chamber dependent on the inter-communicating cell structure.

While the preferred form of pad is the annular pad 2 of Figure 2, the advantage of the intercommunicating cell structure of the foam rubber material provides for the ready transmission of sound and a pad of the shape of Figure 3 may be advantageously employed. In such a case the sound while slightly muted will nevertheless traverse the pad which thus forms a sound transmission and ear cushioning device, and as before a pressure-sensitive adhesive may be employed as the means of attaching the pad.

Cil

It will be appreciated of course that varia-Y tions in form between the annulus of Figure 2 and the solid disc of Figure 3 in which the disc of Figure 3 has patterned openings therethrough may also be employed within the scope of the invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

An ear pad for an earpiece of a sound receiver including a moving sound' diaphragm comprising an annulus of foam rubber having an inner diameter substantially greater than the moving sound diaphragm and an annular width of the order of the thickness of the helix of a normal ear, said annulus having a plurality of intercommunicating cells formed therein with at least some of the cells opening to the atmosphere at the inner and outer peripheral surfaces thereof and in communication with one of the annular faces thereof to provide airflow from said face to the periphery and' acting to modulate sound pressure vibrations within said annulus, and a layer of a pressure-sensitive adhesive applied to the other of said annular faces and having the characteristic of being normally of a taclziness to bond under light pressure.

SYDNEY K. HERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

NITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,254,629 Miller Jan. 22, 1918 1,368,307 Waldron Feb. 15, 1921 1,489,378 Byron Apr. 8, 1924 1,498,727 Haskel June 24, 1924 1,610,659 Craig 1 Dec. 14, 1926 

